Maybe they think that something will grow

Loving the France Telecom guy that I talked to for a half hour this afternoon--he insisted on speaking English with me and after a formidable rant on my part, he said, “Wanadoo, zey are part of our company and I really should not be saying thees, but zey spread sheet everywhere.”

Comments

That's awesome. I was surprised once to learn that my call to France Telecom was re-routed to some English-speaking sub-section of their help line. When I asked the very nice English-speaking man how on Earth I ended up talking to an Anglophone, he said, "Oh, they just automatically send foreign people to the English-speaking operators. Saves time." So my question is, how did they know I was foreign? My last name is a little funky, but otherwise? And the really bizarre part? My boyfriend, who is foreign (but from French-speaking Congo) ALSO gets automatically re-routed to the English speakers. Note: he hardly speaks any English. What a weird system, non? Didn't sound like you got an English speaker, though, obviously. Your last name must pass the standards for Frenchness.

is there something fundamentally different from my southern cali tongue and the parisian tongue? I can't do that "R" (the way you'd say it in musee d'orsay) and my french relatives say their th's like z's. do i just need to gargle more scope?

Adorable. I guess the customer service calls are not monitored as much in France as they are here. Also, as for April's comment about the "th". The French rarely have it, and when they do (théâtre), it doesn't sound like our "th" which is why they can't ever pronounce it. My friend French-Canadian grandmother says "tootpick" instead of "toothpick".